


μῆλον τῆς Ἔριδος

by yanai (oddfiend)



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Cussing, Drama & Romance, Inspired by Hades and Persephone (Ancient Greek Religion & Lore), M/M, Out of Character, Soul Bond, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:35:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27831625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oddfiend/pseuds/yanai
Summary: Sanji made a blood pact – one where he swore to help his most precious person. For that very person he agreed to make peace with brothers he hated guts. For that very person hehasto destroy a piece of himself in a different soul.
Relationships: Roronoa Zoro/Vinsmoke Sanji
Comments: 2
Kudos: 37





	μῆλον τῆς Ἔριδος

**Author's Note:**

> I'd just woken up with a few lines that I managed to write down and uhh.. It turned out into a helluva magic story—I still do not fully comprehend the way the story came out to be but oh well.. whatever. The text was leading me, not the other way around, and honestly? That rarely happens ahahah I had _zero_ control over it until the very end. It turned out into a mess full of Homerish (or Hesiodish (whoever likes whichever) parallels. Please bear with me, I'm new at this.
> 
> μῆλον τῆς Ἔριδος is the Apple of Discord, more commonly known as the Apple of Eris.
> 
> Hades and Persephone AU? Unexplained soulmate connection? IDK too.

"Just use _her_ magic! Say sorry later! When you'll have survived!"

Right, _her_ magic. Of course. Millions times yes. _Oh, fuck it_.

Sanji silently pulled the blocker ring off of his finger. Locked an earpiece on his lobe.

That's not _his_ earpiece per se, but the owner won't be needing it any time soon, and Sanji needs it right about now.

His body disappears into the sparkling mist of the devilish unknown.

Ψ

"Whoever says _oi_ right now is his soulmate!" Nami-san laughed.

"That's stupid" drawled Usopp. "There's no way she's here"

Sanji gathers everything he has in him to suppress a sudden undiluted urge to mutter 'oi'—what kind of a fucked up jinx did Nami-san just use on that green bastard? He bites on the very tip of his tongue and with every remaining sincerity thanks his asshole of a father for this unhealthy degree of control over his own magic, derived from his childhood survival trainings.

"Oi"

Sanji— _god forbid, you're obvious as a teen_ —swiftly turns to the entrance; at the foot of Chopper's own medical room stands a heavily embarrassed Tashigi-chan, a girl from a little town not far from their team's place, a town they've saved a few hours ago. _He_ 's saved. She even looks about his age.

_Who are you trying to fool_ , there's a faint clatter at the edge of his consciousness, a dark contrast to his gentle smile. I am his soulmate. I can use his magic, because he's mine. _Mine_.

He isn't really _his_ , of course. For the very least, Sanji has never let the idiot sense his end of their bond. Because he knows how to cover up his magic. Because there has to be at least something his fucked up and useless family is good at, fuck you too, Judge.

"Ah! Tashigi-chan! That can't be!" his voice is undeniably honeyed, unmistakable sweetness of a lady pleaser. "It is impossible that such a grasshead would have such a brilliant lady for a soulmate!"

Because she is not his soulmate. _You know, of all people_ , the clatter in his subcortex continues. _You know better than anyone_. God, did he also get a split personality? When did his magic get a mind of its own? Maybe he was a bit too quick with expressing his gratitude towards his asshole of a father. Maybe his asshole of a father, as usual, had everything fucked over... Or maybe it's simply because Sanji is defective. The subcortex clattered again with an unintelligible sound, as if trying to come up with a sentence. _Bonehead idiot_ , it finally managed in a voice of that stupid mage, that was spending his incredible magic on those stupid swords. God, Sanji is definitely losing his mind.

He grips the golden earpiece, opulently engraved with ornate incantation, clutches it tighter in his palm, patiently waiting for the right moment when everyone present is busy with whatever to not see him locking it back onto its place.

"Soulmate? I'm—"

Leave, leave, leave, god, just _leave_. Sanji uses everything in his remaining self-restraints to suppress a burst of magic feeding on his twisted possessiveness. He is no egoist, he won't fuck up the life of that idiot, however ingenious that dumbass of a mage is.

"Tashigi! You have to tell Zoro about it" Nami-san is excited to a point of jumping up with her hands in the air. "This idiot here has been searching for his other half for _far_ too long. He's not telling anyone, that dumbass, but he's searching. He says her magic is sweet and _intoxicating_. He wants to taste it, but his soulmate always refuses. Just what kind of magic do you have, Tashigi?"

_It's my magic, Nami-san_ , Sanji thinks with a tint of doom, gripping on the earpiece of that idiot even tighter. Usopp and Nami-san's attention shifts fully to the guest, but Robin-chan and Chopper's eyes still remain glued to the grasshead searching for any clue of him coming to.

_God, they worry like I'm some weakling_ , the voice appears in Sanji's mind out of the blue.

_Get the fuck back_ , he thinks in return, gritting his teeth.

_Then return my earpiece, Browey, isn't it your fault?_ hums the stupid voice of the stupid mosshead. _You fucking nicked a magical artifact and you didn't even ask_.

_I'll erase your memory_ , thinks Sanji without meaning to, and instantly fulfills his promise, covering his folded hand with another, forcing himself to hear acrid coughing inside his mind.

_Shit, it's so tart. I wanna taste it_.

_No_ , Sanji mentally rolls his eyes. _You've already forgotten_. He manages to cast a small tangible rabbit, that appears out of unsteady smoke—it makes its way to the door, startling everyone and successfully driving attention away from the unconscious person.

Well, almost everyone. While the ladies along with Usopp and Chopper are distracted by the snow white creation, clearly scared and agitated, as they try to understand the way it managed to get into the building, Sanji quickly locks the earpiece in between the remaining two, returning the artifact to the unconscious grasshead bastard.

Sanji, if he's honest, has forgotten about the magic tricks Robin-chan usually uses, and he curses internally, noticing the way her cage closed in on him. He sends her a pitiful, begging look and she nods with unclear meaning.

He's certainly going to talk to her, but rather not right now.

"I'm heading out"

"Ah, Sanji-kun, I completely forgot you were here!"

And that hurts, just a little bit. Just a _tiny_ bit. Until he remembers how he himself has built those impervious stone walls around, and he sighs.

"You are so cruel to me, Nami-san" he still says, dramatically covering his heart with a palm.

"Tashigi, so what is your magic? Do tell us!"

Sanji politely bows to the lady at the door, letting her in before leaving the place. Only when he left the infirmary, he realised just how tight the fetters of Robin-chan's magic held him—god, she was sensing everything inside the room, and that meant she could've felt his magic, at least the echo of it. That's what worrying for you soulmate gets you—your deepest, darkest secret gets torn open by the protective spider net. There's a possibility he can extract those memories out of Robin-chan when they talk. Or maybe he can finally find a person he can trust as much as he trusts his sister. Who still remains in the overcontrolling hands of his stupid father.

Sanji waves his hand in a random move, and then silently puts on his blocker ring. Enough magic madness for one day. He'll sort everything out tomorrow.

Ψ

"Hey" Zoro draws the air through his teeth, as if he truly is some animal. "Gimme"

Sanji dissatisfyingly wriggles his hips to try and free himself from the stubborn hands of the stupid swordsman, but Zoro simply leans into the curve of Sanji's neck and breathes in harder—he is almost licking his lips in a cat-like manner, the one when a big cat gets a big bowl of its favourite sour cream. Sanji rolls his eyes, but just as stubbornly decides to fight the leads, because if he gives up now, the point of no return will be forever passed. It would have been another deal if Zoro'd asked for sex—god, that Sanji could do, he was ready to give him that, he even wanted it himself, but... Zoro asked for magic. Damned Zoro asked to taste that tart and _intoxicating_ magic—how did he even learn those words with his micro brain. He wants to taste _his magic_.

Yeah, right, give me a moment to arrange it on a beautiful plate, chuckled Sanji internally. Remove the ring—does Zoro even know _what exactly_ hides his soulmate's magic—and stand there before him with an _Eat me_ label, right? Is he a cake for Alice?

"Idiot" Sanji whispers and tries to set himself free with more force.

Today. Tonight. He's going to dot the i's in their relationship and leave for good. Zoro won't even have to get disappointed over his miserable soulmate. And Sanji is sure, Zoro still has no idea of who, in fact, his soulmate is. He even fell for Tashigi as a blind kitten, until her dearth of magic became apparent—he left the very same moment. Left to go to Sanji, no less. He could at least pick a fight with him, he said that time.

There was no way he could have known just how right his decision was.

"I cannot give you my magic" Sanji speaks patiently, as if talking to a child—finally managing to untangle Zoro's hands from his hips even without accessing that drop of power he maintained with a blocker ring. "You and I, we are not soulmates. You cannot taste it"

Zoro indefinably shakes his head, clenching fists in displeasure—he's apparently angry at someone; either himself or Sanji. Maybe he's thinking, why he even got the whole idea in the first place.

Sanji thinks of how to make Zoro give up—with lesser losses, preferably. He couldn't possibly give Zoro a taste of his magic, even though his insides twisted at the mere thought of it—his damned magic is venomous. It poisons beings, it poisons the partner—it poisons the vessel. His whole damned family is like that—venomous and poisonous. Even the _defective_ Sanji, even he is dangerous.

"Give. Me. Your. Damned. Magic, Browey" growls Zoro, completely ignoring Sanji's words, making him sigh.

Just how can Zoro be such an insurmountable idiot, Sanji thinks, and he forces barely sensible remains of magic inside, hiding.

"No"

Only to sense, how everything around him gets scared, noticeably shrinks—even inanimate objects.

Zoro is trying to crush him with his own power.

Sanji is an idiot—he truly is an idiot. Because he _buys_ it, because his pride just takes a nail and thrusts it betwixt his ribs.

He rips his ring off in one go, feeling the magic flowing through his body—sharp and stinging like a first-class wasp; deathly as a carved out carotid.

Sanji instantly regrets it though—Zoro clearly plays with him, because he dispels the force field around them, the pressure immediately disappears. But Sanji's magic is already out in the open—black charcoal on a snow white paper. _Ugly_ , Sanji thinks, _weak_. All those years of cunning plays, forced deceitful smiles and for what? To fall for such an obvious provocation as an obstinate teenager.

"I knew it" Zoro smiles. His hands reach for his belt where his three katana hang—incredible magic conductors, as Sanji's learned recently.

"What did you know?" he asks a bit hurt, convulsively trying to fix his own mistake, to put on the ring, to suppress his released magic until it's too late.

"It's _your_ magic" Zoro says too easy for comfort and catches his shaking hands, stopping the blonde from using the magical artifact—and Zoro has yet to _touch_ him, has yet to inhale abundantly, and he is already dizzy as if he's drunk.

Drunk. Right. He _never_ gets drunk.

"You've mistaken me for someone" Sanji tries weakly, jolting his hands to get free, and...

The damned ring falls out.

"Get your hands off me" Sanji presses, freeing his palms. Now even his light moves are enough to avoid Zoro's lazy grabbing.

He is not even trying, playing with him like he's some toy. Like food. _Fuck you, damned asshole_. Sanji just needs to get his ring. Get his ring—a precious gift from Reiju—and leave this fucking forest. Damned fucking forest.

"No" and it's Zoro's turn to refuse.

It's just that.. This stupid mosshead doesn't realise that Sanji's refusal is protection, Sanji's refusal is safety. Sanji's refusal is, god damn it, _care_. Freedom.

Sanji's refusal is Zoro's trump card to be free.

"I don't fucking care" Sanji hums overly lightly, sweeps his leg, forcing Zoro to sidestep to avoid impact, and darts towards the door, grabbing the ring from the floor.

"You won't get away" Zoro growls and _presses_.

He does it again, uses his bestial magic to press him; his uncontrolled, vivacious, dense magic...

And it's a complete opposite to Sanji's magic. Sanji's magic, it's... _dead_. Musty, rotten, pulled together by endless amount of experiments and human sacrifices, that Judge hadn't even cared to lay to rest properly. Millions of injections, even more pills; each of them, all five children—perfect experiments. Even the _defective_ Sanji. Perfect necromancers. Perfect in everything. The fucked up scum that had to die before being born—even Sanji, even Reiju—and through this, be set free. They wouldn't be tied to _living_ people, people that _existed_ , and for fuck's sake _could suffer_ because of them.

_Defective_ Sanji. Because he didn't want it, because he tried to carve his veins open after each and every new poison-filled dropper, rotting his magic.

And when he managed to escape—each one of them managed, except Reiju, because of her—he couldn't even bring himself to simply run a dagger into his heart. Or maybe liver, or whatever in his abdomen—then the gastric juice would poison his blood and—oh, right. _He can't be poisoned_. Sanji is rotting inside out—yet his body is in perfect shape; his magic is eating his soul, eating out whatever appears in close proximity to it when he removes the ring.

He made a blood pact. They _all_ made a blood pact.

They will set Reiju free. They may hate each other, may be at each other's throats the same moment one opens his mouth, but their sister... Their sister is special. They can do it for her. They can make peace with each other—for just a tiny bit of time—find their halves and rip their damned bond out of their souls once and for all. _Setting them free_.

They arranged to meet in a year. Sanji had barely a month left. And he still hadn't severed his bond with Zoro.

It's about damn time.

"Let me go" Sanji asks quietly—was Zoro at least a step further he'd miss it.

He shakes his head.

"Let me go and I'll leave peacefully" he bargains. "No one gets hurt"

_You won't even remember_ , he doesn't say.

"You've been around for a year" Zoro says off-handedly and _presses, presses, presses_.

As if that'd work on Sanji.

"Eleven months" he corrects, tapping his fingers on the ring.

He argues without thinking. Domestically.

It's time to stop.

"Don't care" chuckles Zoro. "You've been around for _eleven months_ and you didn't tell me shit. What the fuck?

"It's for your safety" simply says Sanji.

Forget emotions. Forget affection. For starters, there wasn't anything to or about them.

Nothing could be.

"What fucking safety?" Zoro almost barks, still _pressing_.

He doesn't falter for a second. Waits for Sanji to drop his guard. _To react_.

Sanji knows better.

He won't let himself poison Zoro's magic.

"I won't fight you. But you won't force me" his voice is light, almost ethereal.

"I will. And you _will_ to tell me" just as light, but the words hang above Sanji's neck as a smoky axe.

Zoro is confident about his magic. Sanji wished he'd be _as confident_ in his own.

Well, to be honest, Sanji is confident about his magic—he knows perfectly well what it can do.

People don't get to live after it. Sanji just has to avoid letting it out in public places.

He'd better to not let it out at all, but then he'd get eaten even faster. He has to finish his burden and then he'll be free to cage it inside himself forever. Corpses don't emit magic.

"Bold, coming from you, tigerish mage-swordsman from Kuraigana, _Roronoa Zoro_ " Sanji's voice seems distant. "It also shows you _don't know shit_ about me"

"You are a potion maker and a spell caster, Black Leg Sanji" Zoro shrugs. "With stupid eyebrows, awful behavior and your magic has a tart taste. I wanna try it"

And he licks his lips, for fuck's sake. Like he _truly_ wants to take a bite of Sanji's magic and chew on it. Or maybe lick his fingers, covered in a thin veil of sapphire dust—constant residue of his true magic. Sanji shakes his head, shooing the thoughts away.

"You want the truth?" he hums.

Zoro subtly arches his brow—tries his best to not show surprise. He doesn't need to hide it, though. Sanji _knows_ his identity is still a secret. Robin-chan has never failed him.

"Go on" he says almost indifferent.

Sanji sees the spark in his eyes—an interest—and he knows he's learnt to read Zoro. And the man didn't even notice when he became an open book to his soulmate.

"My full name is Vinsmoke Sanji. _Black Leg_ is just a nickname Luffy gave me" Zoro frowns.

Piqued. He might have heard about the Vinsmokes then.

"And... I'm a necromancer"

Sanji saw the way Zoro gulped down. Nervous? Afraid?

"Hot" Zoro throws, smirking.

_Horny?_

"Are you nuts?" immediately worries Sanji.

Who the fuck gets horny over necromancy? Is his soulmate even _sane_?

"Yeah. So you command corpses, _potion maker_?" Zoro whistles, still _pressing_.

Doesn't give up, huh? Stubborn ram. Perfect contrast of Sanji's own emotional pliability. Yeah, he is prideful, mischievous, but he knows he can comply. He's ready to do it. _He wants to comply_.

Right now it isn't his pride that's on stake. Not even Sanji himself. There are lives on stake. Zoro and Reiju's. Sanji would rather severe his own aorta himself before he lets any of them suffer.

"Your stereotypes about necromancy are so dumb, stupid swordsman" Sanji shrugs. "I am directly tied to the world of dead. Do you know greek myths?"

"About a dumbass with lightnings who couldn't keep his dick in his pants?"

"Surprisingly insightful on your side" Sanji admits with respects. "Yeah, those. He had two brothers. Poseidon and Hades. Heard of them?"

"So?"

"Well, Hades rules over the kingdom of dead" Sanji tells in the easiest words he can find—so that Zoro understands him. "A place where souls go after death"

"I know. God of Death"

The confidence in his voice surprised Sanji, but he nodded and continued.

"Almost. The God of Death is Thanatos, Hades is the God of the Dead, even his kingdom is called Hades"

"So you're Hades?"

Sanji chuckles. The comparison is flattering.

"No"

No, Sanji was no Hades. He was never called Hades. He, to be frank, was called _whatever_ but Hades. Ichiji was Thanatos, that's for sure, it _suited_ him. A little army of necromancers, Sanji suddenly thought grimly. Who did Judge try to make out of himself? Cronus? Uranus? Fuck him.

"Then who?"

A vision in blue, Sanji wants to joke. Not your damn business, Sanji wants to say. Let me go, Sanji wants to plead.

"Just a necromancer" instead says Sanji. "I am whoever but Hades"

It is unfair, probably? Not to Zoro, but to Sanji himself. He knows his role in this slapstick comedy—useless, pointless. Thanatos, Hypnos, Momus and Nemesis—those are the real Vinsmoke kids, non _defective_. And him... He is defective. Nevertheless dangerous.

"So what can you do?" Zoro asks in a routine tone, and _presses_.

It's not even funny anymore.

"Communicate with ghosts. Open a bridge between this world and the kingdom of the dead"

"Ah! There was a guy with a boat, right?"

"Did you _really_ read the myths? Do you even know how to read?"

"Hey!" with that Zoro _pressed_ harder.

Useless, but nice to know—Sanji was happy to know he still could bring emotions out of Zoro. Even if the emotion was irritation.

At least there will be something to think of before dying when he carves his chest open.

"That's Charon, he's the ferryman of the Hades kingdom. He... He can't talk to souls. And I can" for some reason, it was awkward to admit it out loud.

"What else can you do? You seem to fight decently"

" _Decently?!_ " Sanji choked.

His ability to fight without magic was his personal pride. He did it himself. Without the help— ~~harm~~ —of his father. And he fought _stunningly_.

"Well, if you keep up with me without magic, it's decent" Zoro shrugs.

The pressure hasn't disappeared. How does he do that? His attention span is, like, fifteen minutes. _At best_. _On a dare_.

"I fight _magnificently_ , for your information"

"Yeah, in _those_ black pants in particular" Zoro nods emphatically.

Sanji wants to crack his spine right about now. Let go of the doorknob he's been holding for about five minutes—maybe more—twist his heel around in the air and smack his nape to make Zoro cough up, double down and _regret_ his words.

He also wants to cover his burning ears—those words mean Zoro has been watching him. His trainings and his warm-up fights with small evil scums on the eastern margin. Why _hasn't_ Sanji noticed?

Well at least they've moved on from the demands of magic. At least some progress.

All what's left—to calm Zoro down; leave to someplace safe, where he doesn't follow—maybe join Robin-chan for the evening tea—and when he falls deeply asleep, Sanji will silently rip out their bond out of Zoro's heart without regret. _Cleanse_ his magic.

"Stop pressing. I've told you it's useless" Sanji moves away from discussing his training pants.

"What if I don't? You won't leave this place until I remove the force field. And I don't really want to remove it" and Zoro is absolutely right about that, despite Sanji being reluctant to admit it.

"I will find a loophole and get out" Sanji bluffs, even though he clearly _sees no breaches_ in the field.

"Do you even believe what you're saying?" Zoro suddenly starts moving closer.

Confidently, _slowly_ , and Sanji suddenly sincerely regrets ever complying with Zoro's "let's wrestle" about half an hour ago. God, it would be better if Zoro asked him to have sex. It would certainly bring more advantage.

"Let's just make a deal?" Sanji tried, holding onto the first idea that came to his mind. "I'll find your soulmate and guide her here. For you to finally relax"

"Why _her?_ " Zoro scoffs. "Why not _him?_ "

Watching for his reaction. Fuck you too, damned swordsman.

"You basically _stink_ of testosterone. Those muscles of yours, insurmountable stupidity and your stupid _life-giving_ magic these all scream of _a prolific heterosexual male_ " Sanji almost bites his tongue after the slip about magic, and immediately covers it up with complete bullshit.

"Fine muscles. And I'm not stupid" snorts Zoro. "I prefer men"

Sanji quietly exhales. Zoro _hasn't noticed_.

"Surprised but not disappointed" Sanji allows himself to _flirt_ , trying to get Zoro off of the topic about magic. "Why did you believe Tashigi-chan then?"

"I wouldn't sleep with her" Zoro scratches his nape, tousling his hair. "The witch said the girl reacted to her jinx. I decided to check"

Zoro shrugs, while Sanji is being torn between an ugly sense of superiority—disgusting, especially against the lady—and sympathy. Maybe he needed to cover her in a veil of his magic? A temporary illusion? Let Zoro try to finish the bond and fail spectacularly—but at least he'd stop trying to find the source of that _tart_ magic that he took a liking to.

Of course, damn, you would like the way your soulmate's magic tastes. Sanji's lucky that Zoro's magical artifact only had a residue magic—he wasn't poisoned, Sanji didn't fuck everything up. Only the residue and the veil of sapphire dust. Sanji has to be more attentive, but it seems like worrying over his unconscious idiot demolished all of his blocks—he even missed on Robin-chan.

"But you don't have to sleep with your soulmate. It's not a condition for your bond" Sanji chuckles. "You can be just friends"

"Yeah, you're right" Zoro nods, and then looks Sanji directly in the eyes. "And how do you know my magic is life-giving?"

And Zoro was standing one step away from Sanji. When did he–?

_Fuck_.

"Nami-san told me in secret" Sanji says exaggeratedly admiring, stressing the name.

"I have never cast without katana in front of her. Nor Luffy. And we've known each other for fifteen years" Zoro steps closer—forcing Sanji to squeeze into the door without touching him. " _No one_ knows what kind of magic I have"

_Fuck_.

"How do _you_ know my magic type? _Answer_ "

"I just assumed! It'd suit you" Sanji has nowhere to retreat, so he just clenches his ring in his palm—there is no way to put it on anymore.

He just has to not let it seep. Has to hold everything inside and not let their magic touch. Not let it poison.

"Do you know _what_ a life-giving magic means? Do you know, just _how hunted_ its holders are? Do you know _why_ I never use it?" Zoro remains in place, yet Sanji feels pushed into the wall.

His breath hitched somewhere up his throat, and all his thoughts were jumping on each other, biting tails and disappearing without being processed. Sanji doesn't understand shit now except for knowing he royally _fucked up_.

Worthy of the king of the dead, right?

"Don't, _Zoro_ "

He felt that touch—not pressure, not his force field. A touch of magic that he so yearned to feel, the magic he dreamed of and the magic he had _no right_ to poison. He just has to hold his fort. Manage to.

"Don't what? I'm not doing _anything_ " he doesn't even blink.

Zoro is looking straight at him, scanning, searching for something.

He's searching for the magic. Don't. _Don't_. Leave.

"LEAVE RIGHT NOW, ZORO!" Sanji shouts and pushes the swordsman away, fussily snatching the ring out of his own palm.

If he puts it on, if he manages—Reiju is the best with incantations—everything will be alright. His magic, venomous magic, _dead_ magic won't fuck Zoro's magic up. His palms are sweating treacherously, and the ring is constantly trying to slip out of his hold.

Zoro hits the artifact out of his hands in one plain move—he just smacks his hands, and the gold, deftly engraved with the most complicated incantation, simply flies out of his fingers, dully hitting the wooden floor of the room.

His ears buzz.

His magic reacts. Twists like a whirlpool, tightens into a ravel—calls out to him, inviting. _Let me out_.

"Zoro, I beg you, stop–" he breaks down, scratching his own throat.

His breathing is no more enough, sapphire dust crumbles off his fingers like ashes—a grave sign. Stop. Stop.

"Stop it right now!"

Emotions are prohibited. Emotions means losing control. Emotions are dangerous.

Sanji suddenly realised, bitterly, that _those words_ of his asshole of a father were particularly truthful. Stick them down your throat, you, immoral asshole.

A simple beat of his heart out of the rhythm and...

Magic breaks out of him silently, though Sanji feels like screaming—his body burns, he can't hold it back anymore. There's no single mage that can resist the moment of the bond.

Zoro falls to one knee.

"No, no, no, _Zoro_ , no–" and though his lips are moving, Sanji can't hear his own voice.

He can only watch as the rotten blue smoke appear around them—materialising straight from Sanji's heart. He sees an image of his mother in ripples—one the sides of his sight—he wants to reach her, to touch her hand. On the other side there's a little black haired girl—he doesn't know her. She stands there, staring at him in surprise. _She shouldn't be seeing him_.

Zoro coughs, gripping his shirt over his chest—there's a barely tangible emerald mist, so pure, undiluted. Sanji knows he can't hear sounds or smells, but Zoro's magic smells deliciously—of fresh air, spring and fucking damned _life_.

Sanji has only putridity, musty dry earth and _death_.

"Don't interfere" Zoro whispers.

How can he talk. How can Sanji hear him. He has to break the bond right now.

He can't, he has no right to _taint_ Zoro's magic.

"I fucking told you to not interfere" the swordsman quickly gets up, and with one wide step closes onto Sanji.

Pushes him to the fucking door, holds him by his collar and looks him straight in the eyes. It's the first time Sanji sees Zoro this close. His vision blurs for a moment, but he has no time to blink it away—his trembling, wet from tears, lips are covered by the other. Hot. Rough. Desired.

_I'm not that weak_ , he hears Zoro's voice inside his head.

_No, no, no_ , Sanji thinks without meaning to.

Zoro's voice is here again. Their magic entwines, binds them to each other, uncovers their memories. This has to be stopped immediately. A little bit more, and–..

_I told you I'm not fucking weak, idiot_ , the voice is persistent, confident.

Just as his lips—Zoro isn't moving, he just snuggles, but this static action seethes of confidence.

_It will poison you! It will poison your magic! I won't let–_

_Tell me this again in a few minutes_.

Zoro's lips flinched and disappeared—Sanji suddenly fully realised that he was staying upright solely because of the door behind his back and Zoro's hands.

Zoro is _alive_.

He's also ugly happy.

"You're such an asshole" Zoro mutters, staring him in the eyes.

_Alive_.

But their magic–..

"You yourself said that my magic was _life-giving_ , dumbass" Zoro voices the answer, as if he's heard the echo of Sanji's thought. "What your sepulchral magic can do to mine when they're perfect opposites. And _I'm_ the stupid one here"

Sanji suddenly chokes—he's stopped breathing for a few minutes—and opens his mouth to inhale.

He realises he's been gripping on Zoro's shirt—it is tainted by his sapphire dust, but at the same time his fingers are clean. Zoro's body is fine, there are no holes, no sticking bones or rotting flesh—he doesn't look like an animated corpse, and his hair is still green, though a little tousled. It didn't turn gray.

"I'm not dead. Listen to the magic"

Sanji listens—his magic, the one that tried to break out whenever he took off the ring, calmly flows inside of him, as if the balance was restored. He can hear Zoro's magic too—there's no sign of poisoning.

Sanji knows how poisoned magic sounds—he's failed once, mistaking a person for his soulmate in his childhood, when he didn't know he could only bring death to people. Zoro's magic now is warm—as rays of the morning sun, that hit you straight in the eyes out of mischief, nevertheless warming you, lighting up your lids a bit.

He feels his own magic—it's still as cold as before, barely a degree warmer, but it doesn't have that acrid rotting smell. There's no must. It feels like a cool moonlit night, when you forget to close the window and end up snuggling to each other to keep warm at least a bit.

"How" is the only thing he manages to say.

"'Cause I'm stronger" Zoro proudly heads up.

Next he does is wince because of a poking at his side.

"Also that's what my magic is all about" he admits quieter. "It exists to give life"

"But I'm... I'm a _necromancer_ " Sanji whispers, closing his eyes.

He's not worried anymore that his magic can poison anyone—it doesn't emit this desire anymore, and oh yes, magic emits all sorts of fucking desires.

"You're a complete idiot" Zoro counters. "If you'd told me earlier that your magic was opposite, I wouldn't have to pressure you like that. Forcing you to bond"

"Who was that girl?"

"Who?" and Sanji hears Zoro's voice quaver for the first time.

"Little, black haired... She's very brave, she was looking me straight in the eye. Me of all... The king of the dead. She wasn't afraid of me"

"Kuina" Zoro says warmly. "She was brave, yeah. I lived with her and her father for some time, before Mihawk took me to Kuraigana. Koushiro told me that my magic was rare, and that I had to hide it until I learn to fight for it"

"You tried to resurrect her" Sanji doesn't ask, he just states.

Dead people can't see him until he calls out to them. And she saw him.

"I couldn't. At that time, I didn't know how my magic worked" Zoro is even quieter now. "Her father didn't even blame me. He just nodded. And he gave me her favourite katana, when I asked"

"She's got a mark of life on her. But she can't return" Sanji says into the void.

They don't even have to say anything right now, they need only to think—they have just bonded, so they still assumed each other to be a part of themselves.

"I know. I let her go" there is no lying when he says that.

"She knows that" Sanji finally says, returning from his thoughts. "She's grateful"

"Fuck" Zoro bites on his lip, tiredly nuzzling into Sanji's shoulder. "I didn't think I'd hear about her after so many years"

"I'm–.."

"Yeah, yeah, the king of the dead, or something. _Hades_ , right" Zoro snorts.

"I'm too pathetic for Hades" Sanji sighs despite himself.

It's the first time he's ever said that out loud.

"Then am I that... What was her name... Sounds like Perona" Zoro tried his best to remember, making Sanji an involuntarily witness of a memory where a pink haired girl was reading something to an imposingly laying mosshead, and the book she was holding was wrapped in a beautiful cover, with ornate letters spelling " _Greek Myths_ ".

"Persephone" Sanji helps.

"Yeah, her. Why am I a girl?"

_Kiss me_.

Zoro immediately throws his head up, looking closely at Sanji, as if he doesn't believe what he hears.

_Fucking kiss me already, stupid Zoro_.

_You're stupid, stupid Sanji_.

He can't answer though, because insistent lips of the other kick everything out of his mind, leaving only the feeling of hot lips, hot hands on his skin, and fucking damned hot chest that pushes him into the wall.

Sanji doesn't think for too long, opening his mouth, and Zoro hums contently, catching his lower lip with his fangs.

Sanji hasn't noticed Zoro's elongated fangs. To be honest, Sanji has tried his best to not notice anything about Zoro—just to remain calm and unbiased, because he has never thought this stupid swordsman will turn out to be his only chance to survive.

And now... Here's your delivery, please, sign here, don't forget to tip the delivery man—damned hot Zoro leans into him, kisses him so desperately that Sanji, together with his fucking magic, reacts, responds, leans in to the unyielding heat—to Zoro and his fucking magic.

Goddamnit, it's so _ravishing_.

"Say it out loud" Zoro suddenly retreats.

His hands remain on Sanji's skin, and, oh god, his skin burned under those touches. His magic is cold, but even this isn't enough to cool him down.

Sanji frowns, trying to understand what he's being asked of.

"Say it out loud" Zoro repeats, but says no more.

Sanji reaches for his mind, digging through his thoughts to try to understand which one Zoro's heard that made him react this way.

Ah.

God.

_Such an asshole_.

"Fuck me" Sanji says with his lips only, looking Zoro straight in the eyes.

He knows Zoro hears.

He's chosen the most vulgar phrasing specifically because of it.

Because Sanji is a goddamn bitch and he's also fucking prideful.

"We can start right here" Zoro exhales, reaching for Sanji's lips—the door behind them receives a violent beating the very same moment.

"Sanji! Zoro! Have you finished your training? We have some scums sightings on the west margin, it's moving towards the town"

"We're coming" Zoro replies almost immediately, tearing away from Sanji's lips and frowning.

"We?" Sanji arches his brow skeptically. " _We?_ "

"Aren't you going?" Zoro doesn't turn to him, instead catches his katana belt with one hand and secures it onto his hips. "You don't even have to hold back anymore"

"You have just handed us over to them" Sanji sighs and doubles over to search for his ring.

"Hey, you don't need that, Your magic is stable"

"It's _the oath_ "

Zoro doesn't ask anything else.


End file.
